


Meet the New Neighbours

by AgentMaryMargaretSkitz, IncendiaGlacies



Series: The Roommates AU [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Gen, Human!Gideon, Rip is just trying to be a good dad, RipFic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-06 01:40:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11590350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentMaryMargaretSkitz/pseuds/AgentMaryMargaretSkitz, https://archiveofourown.org/users/IncendiaGlacies/pseuds/IncendiaGlacies
Summary: Roommates AU: In which Rip meets his new neighbours and Jonas has a lot of questions.The girls are just trying to unpack, Lily believes in a proper education, Felicity wants her mom gone, Caitlin has questionable items, Cisco is no help and Gideon is just trying to act normal (while also being banned from the kitchen)





	Meet the New Neighbours

**Author's Note:**

> Another addition to the Roommates AU AgentMaryMargaretSkitz and I have been talking about forever. She wrote a wonderful oneshot in this universe called '3 AM Fire Alarms and Gideon's Kitchen Ban' so you should totally check that out if you haven't already.
> 
> Please enjoy the geek girl roommates!

Rip sighed as he shuffled through his mail again: bill, bill, advertisements (these Americans did love their commercialization of everything), bill, belated birthday card for Jonas, but it was certainly better than nothing. Of course he’d have to keep the money otherwise his son would spend it all on sweets at once. Speaking of his son, where was he?

“Jonas?” Rip yelled in the hallway, one second the little boy was tugging on his coat and the next he was miles ahead of him. Rip certainly did not look forward to the day he finally went off for college, best not to dwell on that.

“Jonas, how many times do I have to tell you to stay by my side? You can’t run off like that!” Rip chastised as he caught up to his son.

“We live here, Daddy. I know the flat number. Besides, look! We have new neighbours!” Jonas immediately began tugging on Rip’s coat again to alert him of this new development.

Sure enough when Rip looked at the flat across the hall from their own, the door was ajar with a box propping it open. He could hear screaming and laughter and a faint crashing sound from inside.

Well, he supposed it was only a matter of time before the peace and quiet ended. He really didn’t like dealing with new people. But it was best to put forth a good example for his son now (otherwise goodness knows Miranda would never let it go) so he would do the neighbourly thing and introduce himself.

Sometimes he wonders what might have happened if he had just left it alone. Screw setting a good example for the kid.

“Hello?” Rip knocked on the open door to signal their entrance. As he ducked a look inside he could see a TV ready to be set up, wires surrounding it. A painting leaning against the wall ready to be hung up. More and more boxes filling the area. And he was pretty sure one of them was moving, he pulled Jonas closer to him for safety.

“Huge box coming through! Excuse me, my man,” a voice came from behind him.

Immediately Rip moved out of the way, pulling his son with him. Then everything happened at once. Two blondes came out, the younger one looking rather frustrated at the older one. The man with the box set it down and began to glare at the pale woman following him in. Another woman came with a short hair ran out of another room yelling at something behind her. And then another woman popped out from behind the kitchen counter.

“Sorry,” Rip felt the sudden need to apologize, “We live across the hall. We just wanted to stop by and introduce ourselves. See if you need any help.”

“Do we have to?” Jonas whined.

“Keep that up and Len and Lisa won’t be around to babysit you anymore, I promise you that much,” Rip warned his son as the little boy pouted.

“Yes we need help! Please!” the man with the box yelled, “Cisco Ramon, and these four make moving like a lifetime event! Seriously, what was in that box? A dead body?”

“Don’t be silly, the dead body is still in the car, you’ll have to get that next,” the woman from the kitchen said with a mischievous look in her eyes then introduced herself, “I’m Gideon, by the way. He’s only helping with the move. It’s me, Lily, Felicity and Caitlin in here.” She pointed each of them out.

“You’re English like Mommy and Daddy!” Jonas said excitedly.

Gideon smiled down at him, “Yes, I am. Sorry I didn’t catch your names?”

“Rip Hunter,” he held out his hand for her to shake, “And my son, Jonas.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. Hunter,” Gideon smiled at him, though smaller than before.

“No, you don’t have to call-” Rip got caught off.

“Why were you in the kitchen? I thought we agreed you’d stay out of there?” Caitlin asked with a sharp look.

“You said I wasn’t allowed to use the kitchen, not that I could never enter there. I was only setting it up,” Gideon defended herself.

“Why can’t you use the kitchen?” Rip asked worriedly.

“Bad things happen when she uses the kitchen,” Felicity said.

“She nearly killed my oven!” Cisco huffed.

“You have got to let that go,” Gideon rolled her eyes.

“Never.”

“So now Gideon isn’t allowed in the kitchen,” Caitlin said as she began opening the box Cisco had brought in. Jonas automatically moved forward to see what was in it even with Rip trying to keep him in one place.

“It’s for the best really,” an elder man came out of the bedroom his hands interlaced with an older woman, “Martin Stein, my wife, Clarissa. We’re Lily’s parents.”

“And I’m Donna!” the older blonde introduced herself, “I’m Felicity’s mom,” squeezed her daughter to her side as she struggled to get away, “And now my baby girl is all grown up! Oh sweetheart!”

“Mom! Mom! No!” Felicity slapped her mom’s hands from her face from where she was about to pinch her cheeks, “Stop!”

“Donna? Could you take those clothes to my room, please?” Gideon asked politely.

“Of course dear,” Donna smiled. Then turned and looked at Rip pointedly, “You know, if you let go of her hand, she could probably take it herself.”

Immediately Rip looked down and realized he’d never actually let go of Gideon’s hand.

“Sorry, so sorry about that!” Rip blushed trying not to look at her. He would make a fool of himself on the first meeting! Not that he thought anything would happen, but she was rather pretty and had enough dry humor to keep up with him and Jonas. Not that Rip thought anything of it.

“It’s fine, completely fine,” Gideon stuttered over her own words as Donna moved to the bedrooms (giving him a knowing look as she did) with Martin and Clarissa. Behind Gideon, Rip could see Lily shaking her head with a smile on her face.

“You see? This is what happens when you invite my mother to help us move! You didn’t have to do this!” Felicity glared at the other girls.

“She seemed so excited about it though,” Gideon said, “I couldn’t break her heart. Besides, we love having her around.” Rip saw Caitlin nodding her head as she kneeled next to her half empty box.

“Fine then, you can wear all the stripper outfits she insists on buying as acceptable business clothing for me!” Felicity near yelled.

“She does it out of love,” Lily said.

“What’s a stripper?” Jonas asked. Oh no.

“Well,” Cisco began laughing and sobered when he looked at Rip. He could only imagine what his face looked like, probably furious.

“Why doesn’t someone else take this actually? I’m gonna go over there now,” Cisco’s voice petered out as he pointed to the dining table and headed that way. Caitlin’s glare followed him the entire way.

“A stripper is a column in which a gas removes impurities from a liquid, the process is called stripping. That’s it. That’s all you need to know,” Lily rushed through, “See? Science is cool. Stay in school kid.” Lily winked at Rip at the end.

Jonas shrugged and went back to pulling things out of Caitlin’s box. Rip sighed in relief, he didn’t ever want to have that conversation with his son. Ever.

“What’s that?” Jonas pointed in the box.

“Oh the blood bags! I keep them in case of emergency,” Caitlin said.

“What kind of emergency are you expecting? Is that even legal?” Lily asked with wide eyes. Caitlin merely shrugged.

“Why do you need blood?” Jonas asked slightly scared.

“Because she’s secretly a vampire!” Cisco hissed in what Rip supposed was a Transylvanian accent as he leaned forward like a predator. Jonas screamed and latched onto his father, burying his face into his coat. Rip sighed and patted his son’s back trying to calm him down.

“I thought I told Len, no more scary movies? What did I say about horror late at night?” Rip attempted to peel his son off of him but he refused to let go.

“Oh no, no little dude, I was just messing around! I promise!” Cisco said as Lily punched his shoulder, “The only thing Caitlin sucks is the fun out of everything!”

“I like having an organized schedule and a place for everything! That doesn’t make me a bad person!” Caitlin yelled.

“No, just uptight” Cisco rolled his eyes.

“I’m not uptight!” Caitlin argued. Lily gave her a look while Felicity shrugged. Caitlin huffed, “Alright, I’m a little uptight. But I like things being done properly. Otherwise we’d have a mess everywhere. Like this!” Caitlin gestured at the wires surrounding the TV.

“That’s a work in progress. You don’t have to look at it, I’m handling it,” Felicity interrupted.

“What, with that wiring? It’s going to overheat, I’ve told you this multiple times,” Cisco warned.

“Yeah but that doesn’t happen, I mean not usually. Not recently. It happened two days ago. Gideon?” Felicity cried.

“I’ll handle it. Cisco, go be useful somewhere else,” Gideon said. Cisco looked ready to argue but Gideon crossed her arms and pinned him with a glare. Immediately he looked away and grumbled but ambled over to the kitchen to finish organizing what Gideon had left behind.

“You looked like Mommy just then. Whenever she gets mad at Daddy,” Jonas laughed before wandering forward again towards Caitlin hesitantly.

Rip saw Gideon startle at the comment and internally winced. He supposed it was never good for a child to compare a woman to his mother. As first impressions went, he wasn’t sure this was the best one.

“I’m hardly the mother type,” Gideon stated.

“You told me to clean my room,” Caitlin said.

“You told me to make sure I go to bed on time,” Felicity added.

“You gave me money for the cab and told me to pack an umbrella just in case,” Lily finished.

“I worry a little, that’s all,” Gideon said.

“It does sound slightly maternal,” Rip mused to himself. Gideon spun around and glared at him, Rip threw his hands up in surrender. No wonder Cisco was intimidated by this woman.

“I meant that in a good way,” Rip tried and wanted to slap himself for how it sounded.

“Speaking of moms, where’s yours at, Munchkin?” Lily asked nonchalantly, though her eyesight lingered on Rip’s bare ring finger.

“She’s not here. They’re di – no wait, she’s de – Daddy, what’s that d-word again?” Jonas asked.

“Oh my god, she’s dead?” Felicity’s eyes widened her hands covering her mouth.

“No, she’s the other word!” Jonas explained.

“Decapitated?” Caitlin asked.

“Girl, what is wrong with you?” Cisco gave her an alarmed look, “That ain’t right. And how’s that any different from dead?”

Before Caitlin could answer, Rip started, “Divorced. We’re divorced. I have custody of Jonas and she travels a lot and visits when she can.”

“Oh, well that’s nice of her,” Gideon offered. Rip shrugged, it was what it was.

“Is anyone else somewhat concerned about why it’s so quiet back there?” Felicity spoke up suddenly. The background chatter stopped as the girls realized they hadn’t heard from their parents in a while.

“I’m sure they’re just looking for stuff?” Lily tried.

“In where? Narnia? I tried that when I was ten okay? Didn’t work!” Felicity sauntered off to the bedrooms. Lily followed her muttering something about how she should check on her own parents. Rip could hear the ensuing arguments.

“Mom! Mom, no! I’m not keeping that in here! Put that down!”

“Dad! I’ve told you a million times to keep that at home, I don’t need it. It’s just taking up space!”

“I promise we’re not usually this bad,” Gideon said shyly.

“They are. It’s an acquired taste,” Cisco shrugged from where he and Jonas were organizing the bookshelf.

“We’ll try not to make too many problems, we swear.”

“Don’t believe them!”

“Cisco shut up!” Caitlin shouted.

Rip laughed, “Well you’re not going to try and slit my throat with a knife when opening the door, are you?”

“What?” Gideon laughed with him. Rip shrugged, Sara had a unique way of dealing with strangers, and an even more impressive knife collection.

“I must say, I’m rather used to the quiet and predictable. But this could be fun too,” Rip said.

“I’m glad you feel that way. Want to help me with that box over there?” Gideon pointed. Rip nodded and the two of them got to work helping with the unpacking.

He could have walked away and never introduced himself. He probably would have only seen his neighbours in the awkward moments when they left for work, when they set off the fire alarm accidentally, if they needed him to keep a spare key while they went on vacation. And it would have been fine.

But it would have been a lot more boring without these girls being a constant presence in his life.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos/comment if you enjoyed?


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